Description Of Issue: Suicide Among The Youth (Essay Sample)

SUICIDE AMONG THE YOUTH
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Introduction
Suicide, particularly amongst the youth is in the rise in Australia. Statistics show that in the year 2013, 2522 people died of suicide of which 22 were youth of ages below 14 years, 148 were between 15 years- 19 years and 200 were between 20 years- 24 years. It is therefore evident that suicide amongst the youth is rampant and is in the rise. However, in as much as statistics show that relative to suicide among the adult, suicide among the youth is low; it is the leading cause of death among the children and the young in general. This essay therefore aims at establishing critically analyzing suicide among the youth in Australia.
Description of issue
Suicide is a much more complex issue that is caused by a combination of varied factors. Suicide risk factors range from a classification of individual factors, social factors to other contextual factors. Suicidal behaviours cause extensive and even much more immeasurable emotional costs as well as social costs to families, communities and to individuals in Australia. However, besides causing a lot of harm to the above mentioned, it also comes with very strong negative implications for the general well-being of the whole Australian community. According to AIHW (2009), in the year 2008, there were more than 9,200 hospital separations that handled suicide attempts and other self-harms for people under the age of 24 years. In Australia, suicide fully accounts for close to 2.8% of the overall disease burdens. However, the proportion rises to over 8.5% for people under 44 years (Begg et al. 2007).
Description of an at-risk group
Suicide is a known tragedy affecting any age. Infact, suicide claims more than 2000 lives every year in Australia, making it the number one cause of death, ahead of road accidents and skin cancer. However, suicide committed by the youth has generated and continues to generate increased distress levels and much loss particularly in the Australian communities. For example, according to ABS (2010), more than 281 youths aged between 15years-24 years died out of suicide in the year 2008 in Australia. Accurate data statistics relating to suicide for those below the ages of 15 years are not always or rather routinely published, particularly due to the sensitivity of the issue. However, according to ABS (2010), it is estimated that more than 11 young people below or under the age of 15 years commit suicide every year. According to Slade et al. (2009), in as much as older adults of ages between 35 years- 44years commit suicide, suicide attempts as well as self-harm are much more prevalent among the youth in Australia and other nations around the globe. In Australia, a number of factors contribute to increase in suicide cases. They include
Mental illness
Comparatively, a bigger proportion of young people than older people experience mental health problems in Australia. Infact, according to ABS (2008), approximately 27% of young people between the ages of 16 years and 24 years report a mental problem within a period of one year. Of the 27%, 15.4% are anxiety disorders whereas 12.7% are disorders related to substance abuse. A research that was conducted by Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian (QCCYPCG) in the year 2009 found that more than 43% of youth who died because of suicide had a mental disorder. The research findings further revealed that more that 50% of the youth visited a heath professional for mental complications.
Substance abuse
Suicide among the youth in Australia is highly caused by substance abuse. Infact, according to Webb (2009), risk of suicide among the young people may be highly increased by substance abuse. Substance abuse among the youth leads to social risk factors like homelessness as well as incarceration. According to Cosgrave et al. (2007), the use of bhang (cannabis) has been particularly linked to suicidal cases besides also being linked with depression cases among the youth.
Prevention strategies
Media education
Enhancing media education is a powerful tool to preventing suicide amongst the youth. Pirkis & Blood (2010) assert that inappropriate reporting of suicide by media can have very negative and highly consequential particularly for the most vulnerable populations. The Australian government has taken measures to reduce instances of irresponsible reporting by the media with an attempt to cub suicide cases. To ensure that irresponsible media reporting is dealt with and that that no arm is caused by any public media representation of suicide, the government of Australia has fully funded SANE Media Center and Mind frame National Media Initiative (MNME). The World Health Organization (WHO) supports the use of media education in reducing suicide cases amongst the youth.
Access to means restriction
According to Mann et al. (2005), access to means restriction is one of the effective methods of suicide prevention that has infact been listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an evidence-based method. Varied international evidences such as evidence from the Grafton Bridge in Auckland, the Golden Gate Bridge and others has clearly indicated that exercising access restriction to known and identified suicide hotspots would make people not to substitute another death method (Beautrais et al. 2009). According to Chapman et al. (2006), a legislation that was passed in Australian in the 1990s to control the use of gun greatly reduced suicide caused by the use of harms. Similarly, Buckley & Gunnel (2007) point out that exercising access restriction particularly to paracetamol has been indicated to have very positive impacts though extensive research is required inorder to establish the extend of the positive impacts.
Online Education Programs
It is important to clearly educate the youth regarding risks associated with risk behaviours. Similarly, it is also important to educate the youth about systems available to support them. However, before taking the initiative to educate them about risks associated with suicide as well as the available systems available to support them, it is important to clearly understand and comprehend the ways youth are likely to communicate while seeking information. According to McGrath (2009), the youth are fond of technology and often view technology and an important part of their day to day lives, particularly in trying to express their identities. Specific and identified online services provide ideal sites that help young people increase literacy and knowledge about mental health and access varied pieces of information pertaining suicide prevention. For example, in Australia, a web-based suicide prevention program has been established, known as Reach Out. This site provides extensive supportive information as well as online counseling for the youth in need. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the program is effective in reducing suicide cases among the youth. For example, research shows that of the youth seeking for online regarding mental issues help from Reach Out, 70% reportage that they got help (Metcalf & Stephens-Reicher, in press ).
Intervention strategies
Psychological interventions
The use of psychological interventions has proved to improve mental factors like depression that are likely to cause suicide. Particularly, psychological interventions such as Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) have greatly proved to help improve mental factors associated with suicide [61]. There are varied practices which strongly belief that thoughts of suicide can be greatly reduced or even eliminated if some mental disorders such as depression are addressed, which, mostly, might not be the case. However, suggestions made by varied literature are that treatment should be done in a way that addresses thoughts of suicide. For instance, youth can be though different techniques like self-regulation techniques that are applicable to suicide
Universal awareness programs
The use of Universal awareness programs makes use of established school curriculum inorder to effectively undertake interventions and create general awareness amongst the student fraternity. Evidence from literature suggests that the use of universal awareness programs help students understand risk factors associated with suicide as well as suicide warning factors. Evidence from research that was undertaken by King, K. A., Strunk, C. M., & Sorter, M. T. (2011) indicate that the use of universal awareness programs can help ad encourage students to seek help. There is no evidence to suggesting that the use of universal awareness programs as interventions have any negative impacts
Current resources in the community that is available to assist the youth
In Australia, there are resources in the community available to address suicide issues amongst the youth. They include frameworks such as Living Is for Every one (LIFE), Suicide Prevention Australia (SPU) as well as other initiatives such Mind frame and SANE Media Center
Conclusion
Going by statistics, Suicide is turning out to be the leading cause of death particularly among the youth in Australia. Varied techniques can be applied to reduced suicide cases. However, whereas much of the literature...